largely because president nixon felt that if he went through regular channels, he would be overwhelmed with a lot of technical details on subjects he considered not up to the immediate challenge, and he could be sure i cannot overwhelm him with details. so when i first came to china, i had an experience which is perhaps unique in this sense -- every visitor to china would have killed for the privilege of meeting chairman mao. i was terrified of having to do it for the reason that i knew that president nixon wanted to be the first policymaker who met mao. i knew my life would not be worth living if i came back having done the first photograph of an american with chairman mao. chairman mao had given instructions that if i requested a meeting with him, i should be taken to him immediately. i went through enormous contortions not to request a meeting. [laughter] and so i achieved that goal of my visit. i've met, of course, each generation of chinese leaders. reflected theaem mission and the conditions of his period. mao was a revolutionary, a prophet, who was consumed by the objectives he